MU System not looking to buy Kemper property

Although Elson Floyd, president of the University of Missouri System, toured the unused Kemper Military School in Boonville on Wednesday, his spokesman said the system has no plans to pursue the property.

Kemper Military School closed in 2002 and has been for sale since the city of Boonville bought it in 2003. There have been several inquiries about the property in the past few years, said Boonville councilman Morris Carter.

Earlier, Robert Lichfield and business partner Randall Hinton bid to lease the land from the city to run a school for troubled teens.

However, after learning that several former students and parents of Lichfield’s World Wide Association of Specialty Schools and Programs had complained of abuse at the schools, residents of Boonville turned back Lichfield’s offer. The Boonville City Council unanimously rejected the proposal and kept the Kemper Military School on the market.

Since then, there has been no serious interest in the property, Carter said.